A budget advanced by Kansas legislators would eliminate funding for state courts if a judge strikes down a controversial law passed last year.
Republican senators and representatives agreed Monday on a two-year judicial budget that would self-destruct if any court blocks or overturns a 2014 law that stripped the Kansas Supreme Court of some administrative authority, giving local courts control over their own budgets and leadership.
A lawsuit pending in Shawnee County District Court, in northeastern Kansas, says the 2014 law violates the Kansas Constitution. The bill approved Monday says that if the law is “stayed or is held to be invalid or unconstitutional,” the other provisions including funding for the courts, “are hereby declared to be null and void.”
The legislation provides for $208 million for fiscal 2016 and fiscal 2017 combined and is expected to pass in the Republican-controlled legislature as early as this week. A spokeswoman for Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican, declined to comment.
So basically, the GOP-dominated Kansas state legislature is saying to the Kansas Supreme Court, “If you don’t decide the case the way we want you to, we will defund you.”
That’s a SERIOUS threat to checks and balances. Let’s hope this doesn’t spread to other states…..